Title: The Given Series: Celestial Blues #3
Author: Vicki Pettersson
Published: May 27, 2014
Genre(s): Urban Fantasy
Page Count: 384
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:After learning his wife survived the attack that killed him fifty years earlier, angel/PI Griffin Shaw is determined to find Evelyn Shaw, no matter the cost. Yet his obsession comes at a price. Grif has had to give up his burgeoning love for reporter Katherine "Kit" Craig, the woman who made life worth living again, and dedicate himself to finding one he no longer knows.
Yet when Grif is attacked again, it becomes clear that there are forces in both the mortal and heavenly realm who'd rather see him dead than unearth the well-buried secrets of his past. If he's to survive his second go-round on the Surface, Grif will have to convince Kit to reunite with him professionally, and help uncover decades of police corruption, risking both their lives... and testing the limits to what one angel is really willing to give for love.
Satisfying series conclusions are few and far between. Yet while The Given was far from the best book I’ve ever read, it maintained the standard Pettersson had set in the previous two books. Because of that, I found this to be a fairly satisfying series conclusion.
The main thing going down with this book is answering the long-standing question “who killed Griffin Shaw?”, rather than dealing also with a side mystery. This book had a bit more to do with angels and the paranormal than previous books did, but Pettersson seemed to be primarily focused, once again, on human issues—in this case, solving a 60 year-old murder case.
The other pivotal aspect of The Given was the issue of Griff and Kit’s relationship. At the start of the book, the two have been estranged for six months, but are thrown back together under less than pleasant circumstances. Over the course of the book, Pettersson does a great job of highlighting both their chemistry and the tension that exists between them. At the same time, I do have to wonder what the purpose of forcing the two of them to break up at the end of The Lost was, since it accomplished nothing really in terms of plot or character development.
I really enjoyed where Pettersson ended this series. All questions I had built up over time were answered, the established character development continued in the same vein, and the story was interesting from beginning to end. The Given as just as good, or better, than the rest of the trilogy.
